The bean fights back: Canformity, by Ben Satchfield

IN LAST MONTH'S Webworlds we linked to three stunning short films by UK students. This month we take a look at UK Student Films, the UK's flagship site, since 2005, for up-and-coming film makers.

UK Student Films describes itself as an "online promoter & showcase for Independent Films made in the UK, specialising in short films produced by UK students and aspiring young film makers". The site currently hosts more than 60 short films, of which a number are award-winners from UK student film festivals.

There is some wonderful material here, particularly in the animated film section. Canformity, by Ben Satchfield from Canterbury Christchurch University, is a stop-motion animation about a rebellious bean can, and its efforts to resist the ZNIEH labelling machine. It's a lovely piece of work – meticulously animated, funny and full of invention, somehow managing to squeeze in moments of drama, pathos, comic violence and heroism into a four-minute piece. Canformity won a 2006 Grand Jury Award in ScreenTest, the UK's National Student Film Festival.

The cartoon animation It Fell From the Sky, by Jason Ruddy from the University of Westminster, is another ScreenTest 2006 winner. Like Canformity, it sets a standard for student animators that's almost intimidating – work of this quality usually comes out of studios with creative teams and real budgets. It Fell From the Sky, the story of a man who finds an angel baby in a tree, is a subtle and visually beautiful piece, and another miracle of storytelling economy. Ruddy manages to take a familiar tale and make it surprising and poignant. What more could you ask of a five-minute cartoon?

Lean and mean: Ryan Doyle’s Sacrifice

I confess I didn't watch all of the live-action films on the site, so I may well have missed some gems – and I'd be very pleased to hear if that's the case. The ones I did watch were a very mixed bag. Screentest winner Sacrifice directed by Ryan Doyle (Liverpool Hope University), is undoubtedly one of the silliest action films ever made. But, technically, it’s just extraordinary. Doyle sets out to do the full Hollywood Matrix / Steven Seagal guns and martial arts action sequence, and pulls it off! The script is awful and the acting is dire, but I suspect it won't matter too much for Doyle's career chances. The film is hugely ambitious, and lots of fun.

Which is more than you can say for some of the offerings in the archive. Given the incredible opportunity to make a film, some of these film makers have gone no further than the union bar for their locations and characters. Woeful, pusillanimous stuff – student film makers should be banned from campus! There’s a world out there, and it's full of stories, so get out and film it! Enough.

One person who has done just that is Aaron Sayers, from University of Portsmouth. His documentary A Way of Life follows the life of a violent Portsmouth football fan in the days leading up to a match with their traditional rivals Southampton (the "Scummers"). A good subject, told with strong interview material. Sayers makes a terrible decision, however, to stage a mock fight, which is then filmed as if it were authentic. A dangerous blurring of fact and fiction, which robs the film of its deserved power and veracity.

UK Student Films is a young site, so it will be exciting to watch the general standard of its offerings improve over time – to match the truly exceptional material it has already. If they are able to exclude some weaker films, so much the better.

To finish, here is something really special, showcased on the exposures film festival website. We will feature this year's festival (taking place from 23 to 27 November) later in the year. But for now, check out  Just Waiting from 2006, for student film drama at its boldest and best. Awesome.

TM Satterthwaite